The Secret Service – The Complete Series

 

Picture: B-     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Episodes: B-

 

 

By 1968, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson had done just about everything they could with their innovative puppeteering known as SuperMarionation.  It reached its commercial peak with Thunderbirds, followed closely by the artistic peak of Captain Scarlet.  Afterwards, there was the flat Joe 90 (all reviewed elsewhere on this site), and finally The Secret Service.  At this point, it was a cycle that was played out, but it went out in bizarre fashion.

 

The story involves a team of Father Unwin and secret agent Matthew Harding, who the holy man shrinks with a secret shrinking ray to go on missions for the government!  If that was not wacky enough, they are part of a program called B.I.S.H.O.P. (British Intelligence Secret Headquarters Operation Priest), and then they mix in more live action footage than ever.  With the SuperMarionettes even more human than on Captain Scarlet, this offers a collapse between the two akin to many an incoherent kids entertainments of the time written off as “drug trips” instead of being recognized as just plain bizarre.

 

A new kind of vinyl at the time helped bridge the gap between the puppets and live action humans used to portray the characters.  The use of color was also continuously impressive.  The gimmick of the gibberish of Unwinese was also used for the Father, all of which put this show into a stranger world than might have even been intended.  Only 13 shows for half-hour slots were produced, and that was the end of SuperMarionation.  It was not the bore Joe 90 turned into, but it was not much more exciting than that.

 

In the case of the last two shows, all the innovations that made the earlier shows so exciting happened because the shows were being intended to be as exciting as possible.  The technology was an afterthought, constantly being invented as they went along.  These last two shows simply wrapped up all the hard work that went before, though they were far from easy to produce.

 

The shrinking angle here never works, partly because it does not make sense why Matthew needs to be shrunk so often, and it becomes as laughably repetitious as Joe 90 in his psychedelic mind transference machine.  This is some great model and puppet work, which fans of those art forms and SuperMarionation, will still be able to enjoy.

 

The full frame, color image from the 13 shows looks to be from more very clean PAL transfers.  However, this still comes with slight softness on edges throughout that comes from the incompatibility of PAL and NTSC.  It is slight, and is diminished by the fine color schemes in which the show was produced.  The original monophonic sound has been upped to Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, which is basic and nothing spectacular, but it makes all the sound clearer and does not suffer form any harshness or volume drops.  The only extras are on the first of the two DVDs, offering the “confessions” of Matthew the spy and an audio commentary by producer David Lane on the pilot show A Case For The Bishop.

 

That is not much, but the shows are all here and now the entire series of SuperMarionation shows are on DVD.  Like Joe 90, the idea of having the hero report to someone too parental is a huge mistake, which is why U.F.O. and Space: 1999 would be the next big successes.  Some of the characters from the more successful Anderson/Century 21 franchises are about to make a comeback, so we will see how that revival goes.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo